London firm Lovells has hired Christopher Donoho for its New York office. Donoho, a restructuring partner, comes from Stroock & Stroock & Lavan. He represents bondholders’ and creditors’ committees, and his past clients include Gentek, Northwestern Steel & Wire, and Glenoit. Many New York firms are bulking up their insolvency practices in preparation for an economic downturn. Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft, for example, hired a four-partner bankruptcy team from Weil Gotshal & Manges in March.
Source: www.legalweek.com

UK firms are beginning to announce pay raises for London associates for the upcoming financial year starting May 1. Clifford Chance has increased its starting salary to $127,000. Lawyers with one year post-qualification experience will recieve $132,000. Allen & Overy made a 15 percent pay increase in associate salaries last October, and has now increased them by an additional 3 percent. First-year salaries are $130,000, and one-year qualified lawyer’s pay is $143,000. Linklaters is expected to implement pay increases similar to those of Clifford Chance and Allen & Overy. Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Slaughter and May are also likely to bump up salaries soon. U.S. firms with London offices typically pay something between New York and London salaries, but they usually wait until after UK firms have announced their new pay structures to finalize their increases.
Source: www.nylawyer.com

Since last year, Pepper Hamilton has been working on building up its New York office. The firm moved to a larger space, moved partner James Rosener from Berwyn, PA to NY, and has recently hired two new partners for the office. Kenneth King and Samuel Abate Jr. will focus their work on pharmaceutical and medical device litigation as well as commercial litigation. King joins from Patterson Bellknap Webb & Tyler, and Abate comes from the New York office of McCarter & English. King and Abate previously worked together at Brown & Wood and Beatie King & Abate in New York.
Source: www.nylawyer.com

Philadelphia-based Pepper Hamilton has added two lateral partners to its New York office. Kenneth King joins from Patterson, Belknap, Webb & Tyler, and Samuel Abate joins from the NY office of McCarter & English. Both lawyers will be partners in Pepper Hamilton’s health effects litigation practice, which represents pharmaceutical and medical device companies in product liability cases. About eight of the firm’s 450 lawyers are stationed in New York.
Source: www.law.com

Four corporate attorneys from Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe have left to join McDermott, Will & Emery. Orrick partner Ronald Goldberg, along with two associates will join the LA office. Edward Christian, a longtime collegue of Goldberg, will be a partner in the New York office. Goldberg’s specialty is corporate finance; he joined McDermott largely because some of his former partners from Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld are now at McDermott’s NY office. Goldberg is bringing all of his clients to his new firm. The lateral hires were a part of the firm’s plan to expand its coporate finance practice in California.
Source: www.nylawyer.com

Sills Cummis Epstein & Gross, based in Newark, NJ, has moved its New York City office from 30 Rockefeller Plaza to One Rockefeller Plaza. The new 20,000 square foot office houses all 16 attorneys and 19 support staff on the 25th floor. This office is larger and allowed the firm the option of building new quarters from raw space. It features four conference rooms and a reception area with a hanging glass projection panel. The 165-lawyer firm also has an office in Princeton, NJ.
Source: www.nylawyer.com

White & Case has hired securities lawyer, Mariel Creo, for its New York office. Creo has an extensive background in a variety of complex corporate and finance transactions in Latin America and Europe. She also has experience in leveraged finance, private placements, high-yield bond offerings and debt restructurings, as well as private equity investment funds with Latin American investments. Creo is a valuable lateral hire for the firm, as she will help to bolster the multi-office, cross-border capabilities offered to clients. With offices in Mexico City, Monterrey, and Sao Paulo, White & Case has one of the leading Latin American law practices. Besides Creo, the firm already added eight other securities partners this year.
Source: www.marketwire.com

Gary Friedman has joined Weil Gotshal & Manges’ New York employment team as a partner. Prior to joining Weil Gotshal, Friedman was the head of employment at Mayer Brown Rowe & Maw. He has tried cases before the New York Stock Exchange, National Association of Securities Dealers and the American Arbitration Association. Last fall a four-partner litigation team from Mayer Brown New York also departed the firm, joining Morrison & Foerster in California.
Source: www.legalweek.com

Ralph Miles has joined Venable’s New York office, where he will chair the New York Real Estate Group. He joins from McCarter & English, where he was a partner in real estate and public finance groups. Miles has close to thirty years of experience in real estate finance, development, leasing and real estate bankruptcies and restructurings. Since Venable’s New York office opening in 2005, the firm has been working to grow its real estate practice.
Source: www.dsnews.com

Peter J. Toren of Sidley Austin has been recruited by Kasowitz, Benson, Torres & Friedman in New York. Toren focuses on patent litigation, especially computer fraud, and he was once the head of Sidley’s NY IP group. Loeb & Loeb’s NY office has also added an IP litigator. Mark E. Waddell joins the firm as a partner from Sonnenschein, Nath & Rosenthal. Waddell specializes in litigation under the Hatch-Waxman Act governing the introduction of generic pharmaceuticals.
Source: www.nylawyer.com